Pandora's Box
by smilelikey0umeanit
Summary: Based on series two, episode seven. The hypnotism of a witness to reveal answers about the past prompts Sandra to try the same technique for an elusive memory from her childhood.
1. Chapter 1

Pandora's Box

He looked terrified. All she could do was watch on nervously as beads of sweat ran down Alan's forehead, reclined on the black leather chair in the centre of the UCOS arena, his hands gripped so tightly on the chair that his knuckles were white, the contours of the bone exposed through the pale skin. She'd known this hypnotism thing was a bad idea from the start, but as their efforts to find new leads were growing increasingly futile, she'd agreed to give it a try. What was the worst that could happen? Well, this was probably as bad as it could get. She jumped slightly as Alan began to shout, fully immersed in the depths of his troubled subconscious, traumatised from the terrible ordeal he had suffered as a young boy.

"We really need to wake him up, he's getting distressed," the hypnotist asserted, meeting Sandra's eyes for confirmation.

"No!" Gerry interjected suddenly, his curiosity drawing him closer to the group. "Wait, wait, this is the good bit, he's about to see the man,"

"Leave him!" Brian added, leaning in to the whimpering man in the middle of the room, in the hope of distinguishing some evidence amidst the cries of terror. She hated to see Alan reduced to a petrified child, but they needed to achieve justice for him, and Daryl. It was their job, and he was their only hope of doing it properly.

His screaming suddenly increased in intensity, until he was yelling "Jesus, Jesus" over and over again, a desperate prayer which, by some miracle, had been answered for the two young boys all those years ago. The hypnotist started to bring him back, against the demands of Brian and Gerry. "No, no, wait, he's about to tell us something we don't already know!" Brian protested.

"Shut up and let her do her job, Brian." She snapped.

"Alan, count back with me," the young woman said calmly but clearly, her voice slicing through the shocking scene playing out in the victim's mind. "Ten, nine…"

"Such a load of pony," Gerry remarked, earning a classic eye roll from Sandra before they returned their attention back to Alan. "Three, two, one…" he counted, his head still relaxed back into the chair as if he were asleep. An air of suspense descended on the group as the countdown finished, yet worryingly, his eyes were still closed. Sandra noticed the flicker of concern in the hypnotist's eyes, matched by Brian. Even Gerry had gone suspiciously quiet.

Mercifully, after what felt like an age, his eyes reopened and he lifted his head up to face the team. "How'd I do?" he asked chirpily, and a collective sigh of relief passed around the colleagues. She'd already been planning the tonnes of paperwork they'd have to do if it all went awry.

* * *

"Anna?" Sandra called down the corridor, walking towards the hypnotist. She stopped, turning to face the Superintendent.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Thank you for today, it's much appreciated. I know it got a bit intense at one point, I'm sorry about that. We just want to get the best result and Alan was the key to achieving that." She apologised on behalf of the boys.

"Its fine, I understand. It's really a blessing that he didn't remember until now, it was obviously an extremely scarring experience. I've rarely seen anybody react to hypnosis in that way." The younger woman affirmed.

"Anna, can I ask you something?"

"Feel free," she smiled.

"If I had, say, a vague recollection from my childhood, something that I'm not sure really happened, would you be able to draw it out in some way? Like you did with Alan, I mean." She asked, biting her lip nervously. She'd never confided in anyone about this before, but she trusted Anna. She'd gone against the wishes of Brian and Gerry in the interests of the client; she respected her for that.

"I could try, but potentially it could be difficult if you aren't certain that it's real. Is it something serious or psychologically damaging?"

She sighed, internally debating whether to be truthful with her or not. "It could be damaging, it just depends if it actually happened in the way that I remember it. Or if it even happened at all. I was grieving for my father at the time, you see, I was fourteen years old, so I suppose I was..."

Anna held up her hand, stopping her confession. "Don't tell me any more, not here. It's something we obviously need to discuss at length. I could make you an appointment at my office if you'd like and we could take it from there?"

"That would be great. Thank you." She replied, somewhat relieved to have been spared the risk of revealing her private life in the Met building, where the walls had ears.

"Here's my card," the hypnotist rooted in her bag, handing her a blue business card with all the usual details on it. "Feel free to call me to book an appointment whenever you like."

"Thank you, Anna. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone, at least not in the Met anyway. As you can probably tell, it's a personal matter."

"Of course, it's part of my job to keep everything you tell me completely confidential." The younger woman smiled. "See you soon."

"Bye," she replied, turning around to look through the pane of glass in the door to the UCOS office as Anna disappeared into the lift at the end of the corridor. She caught Jack's eye and smiled wearily at him. He frowned, concerned. He'd probably just witnessed her conversation with the hypnotist, which by all standards had been longer than usual. She had the feeling that she was about to open a can of worms equivalent to Pandora's Box.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I haven't forgotten about this story! Sorry it took so long to update. Also apologies if there's any inaccuracies within this chapter with regards to hypnotherapy or psychology- I'm not very knowledgeable about either of those fields.**_

"Three…two…one."

She opened her eyes slowly, feeling as though she had just resurfaced from underwater. Blinking a few times, the feeling gradually dissipated, and she found herself firmly back in the real world. The office was warmly lit and comfortably furnished with calming colours, pale blues and soft hues of green. It was a far cry from the clinical room she had expected, and she felt comfortable here as a result. Although perhaps that was more related to the fact that this was her third visit.

"How are you feeling, Sandra?" asked the psychologist, Anna, who was seated opposite her, her pen still poised above her notebook.

"I'm fine, thanks. Did it work this time?"

"Yes, you recalled what you wanted to, which suggests it is a memory, rather than a dream. But…forgive me if I'm overstepping the mark here, Sandra, but your memory has possibly revealed some uncomfortable family truths."

She sighed wearily. She had been expecting something like that, but she had prepared herself. "Just tell me, I want to know. That's why I'm here, after all."

"Well, you began by recounting the discussion you had with your mother…"

_**-Flashback-**_

_The date on the newspaper strewn across the dining table said 28__th__ April 1975. Two days since her father had passed away. How could it have been that long? It felt like time had stopped. It should have stopped: how could things possibly keep moving along when her father was dead? Just like that. Natural causes. What did that even mean, really? What was natural about your father suddenly dropping dead? _

_She heard light footsteps descending the stairs, her mother's footsteps. Although her back was to the entrance to the dining room, the footsteps had stopped, and she could sense Grace's eyes watching her. _

"_Are you alright?" she asked, finally, that drawling voice of hers annoying her even more than usual._

"_Not really."_

_The older woman sighed, unable to find a suitable response._

"_Look, Sandra, darling. I know you loved your father so much, but…I'm here too, you know. You're all I have left of him now."_

_She turned around sharply, her blonde hair striking her face._

"_Why are you making this all about you? You don't even seem upset, I haven't even seen you cry yet."_

"_Oh Sandra, don't be so petty. I am upset, of course I am. More than you'll ever know."_

_She snorted brusquely. "Well you've got a funny way of showing it. I'm going out."_

_She pushed past Grace and out of the door, running as fast as she could along the suburban street, the grey of the concrete and the driving rain all blurring into one. _

_**-Flashback ends-**_

"Now this is where you got a little sketchy, you couldn't remember where you went after you walked out. You did mention something about a park, though, does that ring any bells?"

"I don't remember going there at the time, but yes, it's plausible. There was a park at the end of the street," she explained, an uncomfortable expression crossing her features. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that. I was a bitch before my dad died, and that just made things even worse between me and my mum."

Anna smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I've heard a lot worse. So, on to the more important part, when you returned home."

_**-Flashback-**_

_As she prepared to re-enter her house, her breathing was much calmer, although her feelings had been too intense for a simple walk to abate. She had been wondering frequently over the past few days whether she would ever feel right again, as she had before. The rational part of her assured her that it was the tragedy of the whole thing that had shocked her, her beloved father taken too soon, with so much left that he had yet to witness, so much that she was going to do to make him proud. _

_At least her career plans had been confirmed now- she was going to join the police force. But she would save that little announcement for another time; the plan now was to sneak upstairs to her room. She really couldn't deal with more of her mother's…well, just her mother in general really. _

_She pushed open the front door with a near-silent click, thanking her lucky stars for the well-oiled hinges. The door to the living room on her right was firmly closed, and she heard voices emanating from within. The sound made her freeze in her tracks, like a startled rabbit in the face of oncoming headlights. Who was here? It was definitely a male voice, and a familiar one at that. Jack, perhaps? Either way, she deserved to hear what they were discussing. It probably concerned her father._

"_Grace, honestly, you're not to blame. You just panicked, it was natural. Personally, I think it was the right thing to do."_

"_I can't keep on lying to her Jack, I just can't. She's my only child, she's all I have left now, if she ever finds out…"_

"_Tell her when she turns eighteen, or twenty-one even. Until then, I'll make sure she doesn't find out. You're right though, the longer you leave it, the worse it'll be when she finds out."_

"_Alright, yes. I know. I just can't bear to involve her in all his lies, she's always been such a daddy's girl. It would crush her."_

"_I'll look out for her, you have my word. I've got to go now, I'm not really supposed to be here what with the investigation and everything, but if you need anything, then call, alright?"_

"_Yes-"_

_She fled upstairs as quickly as she could, her heart pounding so loud she could hear the rush of blood pumping through her veins. What would crush her, what were her father's lies? She fell onto her bed as the front door closed with a quiet thud, her mind overflowing with the maelstrom of thoughts and fears it contained._

_**-Flashback ends-**_

"Again, that's all you could recall, but from what you've told me, I think that's when you must have fallen asleep."

"And when I woke up, I dismissed it as a dream," she murmured, her mind struggling to process the revelations, just as it had done when she was fourteen. Time hadn't made it any easier; in fact, it was a whole lot worse.

"Yes, it's seems incredible but it's most likely a coping mechanism. You'd be surprised what the human brain can do, it can bury memories deep within the subconscious. You were probably overloaded with the trauma of your father's death, so your brain decided it couldn't take any more."

"Hmm," she replied vaguely.

"Sandra, are you alright? I appreciate this must come as a huge shock, so take your time."

"Yeah, it is. I just wonder what they meant by my father's lies, I mean, he was a good man, I'm certain of it. And it sounds like they've been lying to me, but…about what?"

"Perhaps you could find out?" Anna suggested cautiously. "It isn't healthy to have so many unanswered questions, but make sure you prepare yourself. If you need any more help, I'm here, anytime."

She nodded gratefully. "Thank you. You're right, I should. In fact, I need to find out, if they've been lying to me for over thirty years…I just have a feeling that whatever I find out, I won't want to hear it."


End file.
